In general, there are many compositions commercially available for use in finishing and sealing floors. Floor sealers are designed for multiple substrates and are generally soft and flexible formulations, but have poor scratch and/or scuff resistance. Alternatively, floor finishes are designed to yield a high gloss after initial application and exceptional scratch and/or scuff resistance, yet are brittle and lack flexibility, and are therefore unsuitable as a floor sealer. Further, floor finishes may inconsistently and often lose adhesion to certain substrates, including, for example, rubber, terrazzo, and vinyl. Therefore, one would be typically forced to use a floor finish product and a separate floor sealer product to achieve the aforementioned properties of both a floor finish and a floor sealer.
Various components such as polyurethanes, epoxy coatings, styrene/acrylic sealers, and styrene acrylic finishes may be used to achieve the desired properties for separate floor finishes and floor sealers. In particular, traditional floor finishes may include styrene/acrylic polymers with zinc crosslinkers which are generally brittle with a high tensile strength and a low percent elongation. This is the general nature of styrene/acrylic polymers having zinc crosslinkers. In general, the greater the degree of crosslinking, i.e., zinc level, corresponds to a more brittle floor finish. Further, the degree of crosslinking is not the only factor that may control the brittleness of a floor finish. Other factors may include an improper concentration of plasticizers or other modifiers and/or the polymer design and composition.
Typical conventional products fail to provide a composition, and in particular a composition that includes an acrylic composition, that truly combines a floor finish and a floor sealer into a single product. As discussed, currently available compositions are either floor finishes or floor sealers, and require two separate applications. Thus, a single composition for use during a single application that functions as both a floor finish and a floor sealer is desired in order to drastically reduce the labor and time required to finish and seal a floor surface.